Tonya Titus may be one of the Academy for Technology and the Classics most well-known English teachers, but this year one of her classes is a little different from the kind she normally teaches.

Titus supervises a class taught entirely through computers called Education 2020, which is new to ATC. The computer program was recently introduced to the school because of a teacher shortage.

The course, often abbreviated simply to E2020, is a teaching method in which students engage in online courses that are taught exclusively on screen by certified teachers. The Education 2020 company is based in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The subjects of the program range from math and science to job skills and history. Students are required to do some reading and study on their own.

"(E2020 is) a state-devised computerized curriculum," explained ATC Principal Edward Woodd. The program is designed "to provide an alternative for straight classroom instruction to students." While this would sound like a great option for computer-savvy learners, some find faults with it.

"It seems like a cop-out for the teachers to just sit there while we're having our time wasted by an electronic program," opines CJ Garcia, a sophomore at ATC, who was required to take an Education 2020 course this school year. While normally a human would teach the subject, the school couldn't find a qualified teacher, so E2020 was substituted. E2020 meets all the criteria for state-devised class standards, even if the traditional teacher/student interactions have been completely removed.

While ATC was hit hard by the installment of the program this year, Santa Fe High has been employing it for three years. Not all students take it — in fact few choose to, unless it's really the type of curriculum they want.

Capital High School was one of E2020's pilot sites in 2005.

Pecos Independent School District also implemented E2020 at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year. According to a Sept. 22, 2008, story in The New Mexican, E2020 was originally introduced to the district for students to make up credits for classes they had failed. Also, the district used the program to help offer students classes and electives that were not made available to them by the district.

While there is a growing opposition to the program, there is still a good foundation of students who think that E2020 is a good idea.

"I think it's a good program because you're working at your own pace," says Santa Fe High sophomore Sierra Vigil-Trujillo. With E2020, the work requirements and deadlines are easy to manage and it's actually difficult to fail the course. This is accomplished, in part, by students setting their own pace in the classes.

Also, E2020 helps satisfy a mandate that public high-school students complete one online class before they graduate. The mandate was put in place by the New Mexico Public Education Department before the start of the 2008-2009 school year.

Some students find fault with E2020 not because of its presentation, but because of all the technological issues that may arise. Each E2020 lesson includes a tutorial video, and in some cases computers will not be equipped with the software to play the video, or there won't be headphones, so students can't hear the lesson. Calls to ATC regarding the reason behind the headphone shortage were not immediately returned.

"A school boasting its technology should at least be able to pay for headphones," argues ATC sophomore Francisco Martinez, who takes an E2020 course in career skills. While frustrating, these setbacks can also minimize the information learned; if you don't catch the video, there is no other way to get the information.

"(E2020) is a program that replaces the good teachers with a poorly planned curriculum, a (bad) interface and (poor) programming," said ATC sophomore William Fong.

Even Woodd agrees with the students, to an extent.

"I'd take a good teacher any day," he states. "I don't think (computers are) a substitute for teachers."

Hunter Schumaker, a junior at ATC, takes the argument a step further.

"We shouldn't be having students develop the idea that computers are replacements for people," he said. "We should reinforce the idea that careers in education are good choices. That way, we'll have more teachers in the future and (E2020) won't be a mandatory part of school."



Vaughn Fortier-Shultz is a sophomore at Academy for Technology and the Classics. You can reach him at moosemanxl@gmail.com.